Bruce “Utah” Phillips, 73, voice of working people everywhere

There may never be anyone like Bruce “Utah” Phillips. The songwriter, labor organizer and historian, humorist and storyteller died Friday, May 23, at 73, in his sleep, at home in Nevada City, Calif. The son of labor organizers, it was no surprise that he became a member of the Industrial Workers of the World, popularly known as “the Wobblies.”

Phillips, also referred to as U. Utah Phillips, knew struggle himself. He lived the life of a drifter, a hobo riding freight trains, after his service as a private in the Korean War. The same personal demons faced by service people today, Phillips dealt with in his own way by drinking and becoming destitute and homeless. He eventually ended up in Salt Lake City at the Joe Hill House, where he drew influences from anarchist Ammon Hennacy, a member of the Catholic Worker movement, and other social reformers. It was the philosophies of those reformers who helped Phillips develop his songwriting and story-writing skills. In a press release from Red House Records, folksinger John McCutcheon remembered his friend Phillips: “He made me understand that music must be more than cotton candy for the ears.”

In not just stories and songs, but in deeds, Phillips chose to give back to his community in other ways. With his wife, Joanna Robinson, Phillips was co-founder of Hospitality House, a homeless shelter in Nevada City, Calif.

I remember seeing Phillips perform years ago in Connecticut. He was a somewhat imposing figure with his long white beard, with a gentle voice. But his stories would draw you in with their historical truth, inevitable irreverence, and sometimes outright silliness. Though Phillips’ web site calls it “the story that will haunt Utah to his grave,” “Moose Turd Pie” was among the first stories I ever heard him tell and perhaps one of his better known yarns.

Click the Play button above to hear “Moose Turd Pie.”

I saw Phillips again at the Boston Folk Festival in 2002, where the audience at UMass-Boston listened intently to his every word. Every bit of his story telling had some historical truth. Around every bend, he found a way to make it humorous. To help people relate and perhaps deal with their own situations just a little better.

Click the Play button above to hear Steve Baker, Program Director, KVMR radio, Nevada City, Calif., read Phillips’ obituary.

~ by folkmaster on May 30, 2008.